Don't Quit Your Day Job, Buddy

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[ ]I just sat through over half an hour of one of the worst "singer-songwriters" I've ever heard. Why? I have no idea. Is it a case of late-onset Latent Masochism Syndrome or something? I sure hope not. Is it the need for penance? I don't think so but that's what it felt like. Maybe I kept hoping he'd get better, or maybe it was just a car-crash fascination with seeing something really bad and uncomfortable. That's pretty sick I guess but some things are so bad they're good. I kept thinking "Why are you doing this, bro?" [ ]A guy I kinda know was going live on YouTube, and the guy was on his show. He was already playing when I got on, so who knows how long the whole thing lasted. I caught three tunes plus long instrumental interludes. Bless his heart, the interludes were actually really cool and probably the reason I stayed so long, but the songs were bad. Really bad. People in the chat were being nice to him and very patient, but you could virtually feel people squirming in their seats. I sure know I was. [ ]The host came on after the first song (that I heard anyway) and interlude and tried to politely thank him and get back to his show, but dude was just getting started. After the first song he noodled on chords for a good while. He was playing some cool suspended-type chords and some decent fingerpicking. He got quieter as the host came in and it seemed that the concert was over, but it was a false alarm. The guy went on to play two more songs and two more interludes. It was very kind of the host not to fake a technical problem or cut the stream entirely and start over. Bless his heart too. [ ]His songs had, let's say a spiritual bent to them. He was singing some shit about how if everybody was called Up Yonder, they'd have to wait on him because he still had shit to do, and he was "in the band." Huh? If he was really in a band they must've REALLY needed a guy. I'm not sure I'd go see that band. Actually, maybe I would. If they were all that bad it'd be entertaining. If you ever wanted to relive your wilder years and drop some acid, that'd be the time to do it. You might have to bolt like lightning and hit the woods, but it'd be an interesting experience. [ ]After the second tune and instrumental-interlude he faded again, but it wasn't over yet. The host came on the screen and made a heart shape with his fingers. That was all the energy he had left. It was touching. He was hoping dude was finally wrapping it up after twenty minutes, but no cigar. He went from the jam into another tune, sort of like the Grateful Dead but not really the same at all. He was singing some shit about how they wanted to publish one of his songs and pay him a lot of money, except they thought it was a funny song and they got his message all wrong, but he was going to give all the money away anyway. WTF? [ ]The last song had two chords...one, two. I wouldn't exactly say that he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket but his singing wasn't great. He was flat, and when he'd get to a good part and really belt it he got flatter. He was singing about a song deal gone bad but he would've given the money away because money wasn't what he was about. He was playing two chords back and forth with no variation, and he was flat. It damn sure made me want to pick up the guitar. There aren't many people I sing better than but at least I can stay on pitch, and I reckon I could learn two chords and play them with some sort of semblance of rhythm. [ ]I could sing about shit that didn't work out and how my shit was serious but they thought it was funny, and I'm not about "Show me the money." That would be hilarious. I may have to film that whole thing, just to prove it exists, and maybe to learn that song about how shit went bad but he was still a philanthropist. I should do it. Gotta start somewhere. I'm bored shitless anyway. I'm not sure what the title is but I could name it "I Didn't Get the Money 'Cause They Thought It was Funny." I could really make it my own. "They almost used my song, but they got it all dang wrong. Didn't get my big payday, but I'd'a give it all awaaaaaay (anyway)." I don't know why I never thought of recording an album of all dorky songs. Dorkrock. Just for fun I make up real "tear in your beer" Country songs in my head. I'm sure I could come up with lyrics for plenty of Dorkrock tunes. A new genre...maybe it's time. [ ]Maybe there was a reason I watched that guy for so long. Maybe I needed inspiration to start a new brand of music- Dorkrock. It'd sort of be a mixture of Country, Rock and Peewee's Playhouse. If I wanted to do it right I'd hire some badass players and secretly learn some kickass and popular tunes but play Dorkrock as long as you could get away with it, but if people started booing and the club owner was about to go ahead and pay you to leave early, you could switch gears and bust out a killer rendition of "Whipping Post" or whatever. That would be fun. "I thought I had a record deeeeeeeal...it made my baby squeeeeeeeeeal." I can see it now. Now it's just a matter of what to name the band. Normally I'd say "Rock on" but this time I'll say "Dorkrock on." Have a nice day.

The Santa Zone

[ ]Isn't this interesting? This shows flight paths over the North Pole, located somewhere in the Arctic Ocean. There's a sizeable hexagonal-shaped hole above that region that's a no-fly zone. It's a large area. Could it be there's something they don't want observed? Of course not. I know what it is. It's the "Santa Zone." With all that traffic buzzing about, how the heck could Santa and his reindeer do their thing without it? You have to ask yourself these questions. [ ]Originally it was only in place for several hours, six I think, on Christmas Eve, but seeing as how Santa is vital to national security and world peace they decided to keep it open all year long, in case he needs to pop out for batteries or Pepto Bismol for Mrs. Claus or munchies for the elves. It would be tragic to hear about Rudolph colliding with a 787 in dense fog, and I don't think Santa carries a parachute. Or running lights for that matter. Technically Santa isn't FAA-compliant but he's been grandfathered-in. It's the least they could do to keep clear an area larger than the Moon above his crib. Santa doesn't keep regular hours and he's been known to hitch-up the team and head out to Denny's or a 7-11 at all hours of the day or night, and he can come and go without having to worry about air traffic. Isn't that nice. The Santa Zone. Who knew?

Recordings: Master Tapes vs. Vinyl vs Tape vs. CDs, Plus a Genius Engineer

[ ]A vid popped up about a small record shop in Hong Kong that has the rarest records in the world. I was clickbaited but sure enough he really does have the rarest records in existence. They're so rare many collectors don't even know about them. As the owner has had decades of experience he's regarded in that part of the world as the main expert on all things recorded. He came up with a system for ranking sound-quality of recordings on various media. What was more interesting to me was his comparison of the sound of original master recordings compared to vinyl, tape and CDs. The results are shown on this chart. It's based mainly on his his ears and his opinions, plus research. [ ]He collects "master tapes" of many artists, and that's his standard. What he has aren't THE original master tapes; they're "production masters," which were usually made in issues of 100 or so, and given to radio stations and certain individuals. I suppose they're second-generation and straight from the masters, and as close to the original recording as possible. As you can see reel-to-reel has the next-best sound compared to the master tapes. That's no surprise. It only has about 70% of the fidelity of the master though, but I'm guessing that reel copies are at least third-generation and maybe more. Before it gets to the reel-to-reel, a copy is made from tha master, generally referred to as a "stereo mix," then most likely a third copy is made to make production copies from, so that's four gens already. Still that's a big drop in sound-quality. [ ]Cassette tapes came in third at around 50% fidelity, and scored higher than vinyl. That's a bit surprising until you consider that it's much smaller than reel-to-reel tape but it's still tape. Speaking of cassettes, they're making a bit of a comeback, and a few companies are making players again, for the first time in decades. If it sounds better than vinyl, why not? Vinyl started making a comeback well-over a decade ago and it's still going. They make turntables now that cost more than your house. Many of the hipper bands have been releasing their material on vinyl and cassette for a while, and I think that's really cool. [ ]Speaking of cassettes there's a guy who started a great company. He transfers recorded music into any format you choose, from CDs to vinyl to tape. He does everything in-house, from transfer to printing to packaging, and he also does mastering, which is critical and can make or break a record. He has his own system and the idea sounds really interesting, although I'll have to go back and watch that again because I've already forgotten. I know it's something pretty different. But he's my total hero, and I mean that, for creating what he calls "Quiet Vinyl." "Quiet" refers not only to the high-quality virgin vinyl he uses, but to his mastering process. And speaking of mastering, hearing about this gave me a massive musical-boner. [ ]My other true hero in the music biz is Roger "The Immortal" Nichols, who produced all of Steely Dan's amazing records among others. He mixes music the way it should be mixed, not compressing the fuck out of it and cranking up the volume just to compete with the volume of all other CDs. If you want to learn more Google: "Loudness Wars" or just go to YouTube, and you can learn about it, and see what makes Roger and a handful of other producers so special. This guy took a page from Roger's book. He mixes vinyl at a lower volume level, and instructs the listener that the decision of the volume levels will be left up to their disgression, but for best results it should be cranked in volume compared to other releases. He also uses much less compression, and that plus the lower recorded volume means that it sounds truer to the original recording and intent of the band, and more-importantly there's way more dynamic range (the difference between soft and loud parts). It's what it was meant to sound like, and it's WAY easier on the ears, and not just because of volume. Again if you look into "Loudness Wars" you can learn all about it. I think it's Satanic. [ ]He also masters CDs according to his method he calls "'86 Mastering" or something like that. It's the same idea as the vinyl, and again the listener is encouraged to crank it. I love this guy. If I had scads of cash I'd get this guy to put out the songs "Psychedic Snack" and "Mister Bubble" out on a bubble-gum pink vinyl 45, and go from there. Talk about a musical boner. I don't know if the original tapes exist but I could ask the guys. I'd do it from the CD if I had to. I'm sure that guy could weave his magic and make it sound great. He'll release your music in any format you choose, from reel-to-reel to vinyl to cassette to...(drum roll, please)...8-Track tapes. Yep, good ol' 8-Tracks. [ ]8-Tracks sounded pretty good back in the day, maybe better than cassettes due to the thickness of the tape, and depending on your system. They were bulky and you needed a suitcase to carry them. O' had an 8-Track player in his car, and we discovered that if you opened the case you could put a fair amount of stuff inside and they'd still play perfectly. It was the perfect stasheroo. Anyway this guy takes new-old-stock 8-Tracks and magnetically scrubs and reconditions the tape. He does pro printing including inner labels and jackets, and they look just like the real thing. That's badass. You could even do a special 8-Track-only recording to fit the main drawback of 8-tracks. [ ]The tape was divided into four equal sections of 15 minutes each or whatever it was. That rarely lined up with the length of the songs, if that makes sense. The song-lengths didn't divide equally by four. Typically they'd rearrange the order so less songs would get chopped, but almost every time one or two songs would fade right in the middle, and fade back in after an audible click as the machine went to the next track. Also if I remember correctly there'd be occasional silence when the songs were finished with tape still to go. You could record a thing in four "suites" that were all as long as each section of tape. That'd be geeky but kinda cool. "8-Track Only." That's nuts. [ ]I doubt anyone has started making dedicated 8-Track players again but you never know. If a big band did that, that is have the balls to release an exclusive 8-Track only recording, their fans would be mobbing eBay and thrift stores for old players. That would be hilarious. Bet your ass I'd do it. That's as dorky as it gets. I love it. Meantime If I could I'd release Mister Bubble on every format that guy does. Hell I bet he'd even do a run on wax cylinders or wires if you asked. The first thing I'd do is send the guys in the band a Mister Bubble 8-Track anonymously in the mail. It'd look just like it teleported straight out of the 80s, but it would be printed exactly like the CD. It'd completely trip their shit out. Damn, where's my "perfect world?" [ ]I'm rambling and digressing but who cares. Releasing Mister Bubble would be perfect for several reasons. First it's kickass music. The playing is stellar. I was involved with it because I lucked-out and met the guys in the band when they were in the middle of recording a CD and I got to play percussion on the second half of it, but that's not the thing, although it was an honor to play on it. The music is extremely original but still fun and cool, and again the guys on it are all monster players. I had such a fun time and a million laughs watching the leader Sam do his thing that I'd have hung out whether I played or not. It's so damn good... [ ]The album would be perfect for releasing again, especially on vinyl. The cover of the CD was made to look like the classic Jazz albums of the 60s, and they nailed it. Back then stereo was fairly new and still a big deal, and records were marked "FULL STEREO" and such. They had all that stuff down to the cover and musician images to the typeface. Since it was meant to look like an LP jacket to begin with, to actually see it on a full-size jacket would be amazing. It'd cost 50K probably to do all that, maybe more. I'd do it if I could. I think my dream-world is starting to merge with the real one to be thinking about shit like that but it would be cool. [ ]Vinyl scored surprisingly low, and more-surprisingly CDs. CDs are a whole different animal, and were the first mass-produced media that was 100%-digital. It all depends on how the music was mixed, mastered and transferred to disc. Turning music, or movies or even text into ones and zeros to me is still pure magic, and it does a great job of capturing what's left of the music after however many gens have passed since the master. People say that analog is "warmer" than digital and I'd have to agree. A certain amount of info is regarded by the algorythm as nonessential to the music and left out. It's not a huge amount, and I'm guessing it's probably things like amp-bleed, drum ring, pedal-squeaks and such. Every bit of sound is important in my opinion. That stuff is more felt than heard but it's all part of the music. [ ]Vinyl clocks-in at around 40% compared to masters. That's the best most consumers can get. I feel cheated. Vinyl inherently in inferior to tape. Depending on the mediums it's several generations from the master, plus the tonal grooves are pressed physically into the vinyl of production records rather than being directly lathed, which is how the "master lacquer" is made. From the lacquer a mirror copy is made, metalized and used to stamp the grooves into hot vinyl, and every tiny groove has to be perfect. It's easily 6-7 gens away from the master. 40%, huh? Wow. Over half the sound lives on the masters and nowhere else. That sucks. No wonder dude collects them. [ ]I've told this story ten times but it still blows my mind. My friend Emmette, who was Generic Band's soundman for a while, worked in a high-end stereo shop. For six months he waived his salary and comissions and invested it in the finest equipment of the day, at store cost. He had McIntosh amps but everything else was so esoteric I'd never heard of the brands, and I kept up with that stuff and even bought stereo mags every month. Few recording studios were 100% isolated and soundproof, and about 99% of all LPs from back in the day were loaded with "secret information." [ ]The mics and equipment were sensitive enough to just barely pick up incidental sounds which were transferred to vinyl but at an inaudible level, for most stereo equipment anyway, even high-end. It was completely inaudible to anyone except maybe your dog. As amazing as his system was it all starts with the turntable cartridge and the diamond needle itself, the first link in the chain. The cartridge alone for that rig cost as much as a new car. After spending all of that money he realized that he could only play Deutche-Grammaphon and other expensive import records, because the "secret information" was constant and incredibly distracting. BTW a few studios are totally isolated acoustically, with expensive hydraulics and/or being underground, for that very reason. [ ]He'd told me about it and I thought he was kidding, but then he put on a UK import, high-quality vinyl recording of Yes "Fragile," one of my favorites ever. My jaw dropped. Almost right away you could hear walking, talking, amp buzz, airplanes flying over, toilets flushing, laughter and other extraneous sounds. I'd listened to that album a million times and never heard a peep of that stuff, but it was all there, and all through the record. It flipped me out so much that over the years I'd almost managed to convince myself that it had been a dream, but I ran into Emmette several years ago at the Golden Rule Barbecue and asked him about it. He said "Yeah" and looked at me like I was having memory issues or mental problems. That was a trip. He still has that rig, plus a few additions. He says you still can't touch it with any new stuff. I believe it. [ ]Some say vinyl sounds better than CD, and this chart would seem to bear that out, in fidelity anyway. It's not based only on his ears and opinions; it's backed-up by tons of testing with all sorts of equipment. In my mind going all-digital, from recording on digital medium to the digital master and then straight to CD I'd think the sound would rival vinyl at least, but apparently not. One huge difference between CDs and vinyl is that CDs can hold a wider dynamic range than vinyl, and that can be used for good or evil, as in Brickwalling. You can compress the fuck out of music going onto CD and crank the volume to fuck and back until it literally gives you a headache to listen to, and your brain interprets it exactly as a test-tone, and without fail it will make you cranky and pissy (Google it, Dylan) and you won't know why. You can't put music that hot on vinyl, so it can't be Brickwall-Mastered, thank God. The movement of the needle in the grooves would be so violent that it would actually bounce the needle off of the platter. That's an excellent point for vinyl. [ ]Reading this chart was interesting but it made me sad. I didn't think we were losing that much of the music. It sure makes me wish I could attend a remastering session where they get out the original master tapes. I'm sure I'd cry. Failing that I'd love to have a reel-to-reel. It's always been the best sound but it's a hassle and not for the fumble-fingered. Back in the day they sold reel-to-reel versions of many major releases. Oh, dear God...just for kicks I thought I'd check the current price of r2r tapes on eBay. Prices ranged from $8 for a copy of Steppenwolf Gold up to a bill or so for other stuff, but there's a production-master of "Aja" by Steely Dan. It's giving my butterflies just thinking about it. They want $325 for it but bidding starts at $250. Damn, I wish I could buy that. Production-masters were second-gen, and as close as you can get to what was originally recorded. F-me I'd love to have that. Of course I'd also have to drop about another seven bills on a player so it'd cost me a grand, but if I could I'd buy it right now (sigh). { ]Next up a fancy turntable and stereo system would be nice, but not one sensitive to hear toilets flushing. Nothing ruins "Heart of the Sunrise" like a toilet flushing. For about a third of the cost I could book a flight to Hong Kong and a listening session in the record store's super-nice listening room, and sit in comfy chairs sipping green tea. I'd give anyting to hear some of his tapes. and maybe buy a few normal issues too if money allowed. But just to hear the recordings as closely as possible to the way they sounded in the studio would be glorius and a major religious experience. That'd be my kind of vacation. I can dream. "Music is the best." - Frank Zappa

It's a #s Game: Straight A's in Maths

I love how they call it "Maths" in England. I love numbers. Numbers are elegant and beautiful, and I enjoy looking at them. I believe they also have energy or power sometimes. 666 is an obvious number that can cause a stir in many people. I get a kick out of it when it pops up randomly, and I keep track of some of that in this blog. Numbers are nothing to be afraid of, although the number 666 strikes fear in some people (insert "air" devil horns here). Speaking of all that I was intrigued to learn that numbers are also a way of communication, especially among the elites, and they take their numbers very, very seriously. [ ]Junior year in high school I had a 100 average in Math. Perfect. It was only Algebra but I was the only one in school with a hunj. I'll never forget the last semester...my friend Chase, who had a 99, and I sat at the front of the class, only with our desks turned to face each other. We played cards, mostly Spades, nearly every single day. The teacher knew we knew the shit and she didn't care. The only interaction we ever had with her or the class was when someone got called to the board to work a problem and got stuck. The teacher would say "Excuse me, but could one of you please give a little help?" We'd put down our hands and look at the board for a second or two to catch up with what was going on, and one of us would go to the board and show them how to solve it, and go back to our game. [ ]That was classic, but still I can't claim to be a math wiz in any way, because I had to drop Calculus, much to my dismay. Somehow they'd scheduled me with another class that I couldn't miss, so I missed the first week or so of Calculus, and I couldn't catch up. Missing just those few days made me unable to grasp the bridge between it and Algebra, and even though the teacher was surprised and tried to work with me a bit I just didn't get it and I dropped it. I was too busy with school and God knows how many extracurricular activities I was involved in to get tutored. I wish I'd done that. I'd like to know it more now, and it also hurt my grades in Physics. I understood the concepts completely but when it came to working problems on tests that involved Calculus I was stuck. [ ]Still I did okay up until then. Maybe that accounts for my love of numbers but I'm sure it started before then. I had a Secret Decoder Ring when I was a little kid, and me and my buddies would send coded messages to each other in class. We were secret agents. That's what we did before cellphones. I've said this before but for most kids who grew up in church the teaching was that "Numerology" and everything associated with it are evil and should never be approached. I didn't really buy that but I did take some of it to heart. It did delay me getting into it for a long time. NUMBERS aren't evil. It's how you use them. Like they say...salad shooters don't shoot salads...PEOPLE shoot salads. [ ]I just glanced at the time and it's 11:11. That's a coincidence but it's interesting when I'm doing this post. I haven't checked the time since around 7:30. Great coincidence. 11:11 is a very powerful number, to "both sides." I won't go into all of its meanings because there are many, but to the "society" people, 11 is a "master number." Multiples such as 22, 33, 44, etc. are also very important to these folks. I dig those numbers myself, a lot. Even I know what they represent to these people, which isn't always good, I still love looking at them. If nothing else they're certainly symmetrical. [ ]I love the number 13, although that's another one that registers high on some people's Spookometer. It's a combination of two extremely powerful numbers, and two of my favorites, 6 and 7. Those are high-ranking numbers, although lots of numbers are. Just like in my decoder-ring days, numbers are still used to communicate words today. The study of "Numerology" allows you to look into how it works and what they're saying. It's fascinating. I also have to say I like the number 666, even knowing it's the "Beast" number. I also really dig 333, and to a bit lesser degree 999. [ ]I do like the phrase I came up with back in the day when a good-looking female would walk by- "Man, that's about .999 fine." Ha-ha, I was hilarious. Oh, and the song "99" by Toto. What a great tune. Then there's the perky and beautiful Agent 99 from the TV show Get Smart. Woof. There's "99 Ways to Die" by Megadeth. And we can't forget "99 Luftballoons." I wish I had a penny for everything I've seen that costs 99 cents. They'd never have missed those pennies, and I'd be sitting on the largest copper and zinc deposits on the planet. The 99 list goes on and on. Honorable mention and a shoutout goes to the number 55, which was immortalized in the classic song line "I can't driiiiiiiiiiiiiive...55!" I heard that. [ ]Some people are way more into numbers than I am. There's a guy on YouTube who was one of the first people I subbed. He made the slope of the "rabbit hole" I'd been going down for a while a little more steep and slippery. Of course everything is subjective, but he gives his interpretation of what these numbers mean based on traditional meanings, and ties them into world events, and what these people are communicating to each other. It's called "hiding in plain sight," and it's a real thing, whether people are aware of it or not. He explains the math- addition, subtraction and reduction, which is again subjective, because you can stop at any number in the process without reducing it all the way to the lowest number you can get. [ ]For instance you can take a pretty big number and reduce it down to 13 by adding all the digits together one by one, and then adding the resulting number together (reducing) until you arrive at 13. If you took a big number and added the digits individually and they added-up to, say, 931, you add 9+3+1 and get 13. Bingo. But then if you reduced that you'd get 1+3=4. That's as small as it goes. There's room to massage the numbers sometimes but they're definitely consistent, and the amount of "coincidences" as to how they tie in to current events comes at you like a swarm of gnats. As I've said before there's a term for it that I should know, that says that when the number of "coincidences" reaches a certain point you must begin to treat it as fact, explainable or not, and Vegas oddsmakers will actually give odds on stuff like that. You can bet your ass they bet on a hell of a lot more than sports. [ ]What's in a number? A lot more than most people know. It's full-grown adults still playing with their Secret Decoder Rings (which granted I'd still do), only on a much more sophisticated scale. It's a trip and really interesting to look into, and again it's 100% real, at least for some people. Numbers are a language unto themselves, just like symbols, but that's quite another story. Rikki don't lose that number. Numbers are also frequencies, and on the smallest scale, EVERYTHING in the Universe is a frequency. Each number represents a freqency, or a note, whether or not it's in our audible range. It's a trip to go to a live show where they do spots that really push the bass frequencies; like the drums and such at Dead shows back in the day, down below 20 Hertz, our low-limit of hearing range, and you can't really hear the notes (frequencies) but you can damn sure feel them. All those notes, pitched or not, add up to a certain frequency, and the scale goes on almost to infinity above and below our hearing range. [ ]Then there's the number 3. They say that good things come in threes. We've always said that 3 is the "magic number," and I think there's something to that. Three is one of the heavy numbers too, and again to both sides. 3 is everywhere. It's a famous number. It's a "mellow" number, and to those who are bothered by certain numbers, it's fairly unprovocative to most people I think. I certainly like it. Trying to pick a favorite number would be like trying to pick my favorite song...it can't be done. But 3 is a good one. You could bring up stuff that starts with threes all day long. [ ]Three Amigos, My Three Sons, Three Muskateers, third and long, threepeat, Three Stooges, Knock Three Times (on the Ceiling if You Want Me), and I just have to say this on that subject..."Twice on the pipes (DINK-DINK) if the answer is no." That's too much. Anyway there's three strikes you're out. I love the saying "Two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left. There's Third Stone from the Sun. Third time's the charm, ...three's company, the show Three's Company, The Three Bears, three-bean salad...it doesn't quit, and of course there's the Holy Trinity, where you're using the traditional term or what it means in Cajun cooking- onions, green bell pepper and celery. I'm free[associating here but it's fun. Good for the brain. It's a muscle you know. It needs to be exercised, and that's a fun way to do it. Use it or lose it. More people should really take that to heart, but fuck it...why THINK about it when you can just Google it, right? [ ]Don't even get me started on the number 8. It's a mofo of a number, with symmetry within itself, like 0 or 3. It represents Infinity in more ways than one, and all you have to do is turn it on its side to see that. It's a "perfect" number. It represents God to some people, and many other things to many others. Again it's subjective. "Eight-ball rollin'" is one of my favorite sayings. It means "Shit's about to happen," and it certainly applies to today. 8 is a badass number. "Doink...I couldda had a V-8." [ ]Last but not least there's the number 1. The beginning. The Alpha. Numero Uno. Where it all began. Step one. "One is the Lonliest Number" by Three Dog Night. Is that true? For some it is. Rule #1. First place. You're #1 in my book. Suqare one. That's a big one, so to speak, lol. "Go with your first choice. 1+1=2...or 3 as the case may be. We are one. One and done. One of everything. Sonny, One So True, I Love You, A silly millimeter longer, 101, one chance to get it right...I'm free-associating again but that's what I do. 1 is wonderful number. It's a good place to start. What's the point of this post? Hell if I know, but numbers are cool. Numbers are useful, and not just in Maths. They've taken out clocks in classrooms because kids can't read then. Great idea...reinforce the dumbing-down of America. That's a thing too. Think about it. [ ]I've seen a few jewelers who make modern versions of decoder rings for adults, including some in sterling. If I had money to burn it might be fun to have another one. It's been a long time. Numbers rock. That old TV show Multiplication Rock said it way back then, and I believed it. It had a killer theme song. Numbers are fun to play around with, and they can come in handy. I may have been a bit of a math geek but I was definitely a dork back in those days, and I still am to this very day. The playing cards in class thing might have been pretty dorky but it was a fun memory, not to mention class went a hell of a lot faster, and being able to do whatever we wanted but still be able to help another kid here or there was a badge of honor. In any case, have a nice day, and count your blessings. [ ]EPILOG: I just published this post and looked at the time and it's 1:11. I'll be danged. What a coincidence, eh? There was a glitch in the Blogspot OS that set the time to Pacific Time and I never got around tochanging it back, so it will show the time of this post as 11:11. Ain't that some shit?

First Testimonial for My New Batch of Skin Lotion

[ ]I was absolutely thrilled to locate another source of the main ingredient in my Skin Mend lotion after searching for well over a decade. I've only given samples to a couple of people so far and there hasn't been enough time yet for many people to test it out. Saturday my friend Michael came over with his daughter Katherine. He's from Kenya and he's an amazing dude. I gave him some of the lotion to try. He called me Monday with some great news. [ ]He's had really bad allergies this year and his nose was raw and blistered from blowing his nose all day. He said that he's been trying to heal it for two weeks. He tried everything he could find at the drug store but nothing even helped soothe it. He was about to go to bed Saturday night and he remembered the lotion. He put a few drops on his nose and went to sleep. Sunday morning he woke up and his nose was completely healed. It totally blew his mind and rightly so, but that's how good this stuff is. It might not sound like a big deal that the lotion healed a sore nose, but to do it overnight is nothing short of incredible. [ ]The way I always describe the stuff is that it literally speeds up the healing process, and Michael's experience is proof. He said "This stuff comes from God." I couldn't agree more. There you have it. This stuff is good. I'm thrilled.

WTF Update

[ ]I've been talking to some people about what happened to me on YouTube, when my channel name changed back and forth, and no one has ever heard of it happening. I got to thinking that what could've happened was that someone simply got my password somehow, and went in and changed my channel name while I was online. For one thing they'd have to have been monitoring me, and they'd have had to go back into all my videos and read every comment, and were really good at what they did, using the name "Look Around." They'd have had to know that using that name would flip me out, because if it were just a coincidence, it would be staggering. Why not change it to "Billy Bullshit" or something, and again, why me? [ ]Still I was thinking that that's maybe what happened, but when I thought about it I knew it was impossible. Like I said I always try to debunk things like this, but when it can't be debunked than you have to look for another explanation. Granted someone could've gotten my password and gone into my dashboard and changed my channel name. But to do it when I'd see it, they'd have had to know I was online at the time, and in a specific chat, and no one can monitor anything like that, and to use a name that specific would have meant that they were extremely clever. [ ]Even if that were somehow the case, it's still impossible. It'd be one thing to change my name, except that it wouldn't have changed back to my regular name when I hit refresh. It doesn't work that way. Seeing it change back a second or two later would be impossible. They couldn't change it that quickly, plus having it revert back to my original name when I refreshed the page is out of the question. It can't happen. [ ]So yeah, it was AI. It was the ghost in the machine. It's the only answer that makes any sense at all, no matter how crazy it sounds. And just becasue someone doesn't believe something doesn't mean it's not true. Some people would dismiss this out of hand, but they'd never be able to explain it, and that's the point. Someone or something was sending me a message, and one they knew would blow my mind. If anyone has another explanation I'd really love to hear it, but there isn't one. [ ]If the Good Book is true, then the Devil knows his time is short, and he's pulling out all the stops. This is a spiritual battle and not one of the flesh. Satan is in control of this world, for now anyway, and he's the father of lies. If this is true, than so is what I say constantly- that at least half of everything we've been told all our lives is complete bullshit. That's why I try to tell people that even if they don't believe a word I, and others say about what's going on and what will go on from here on out, which yet again I totally get, than I'd at least keep the idea in the back of my mind that maybe in reality things are the opposite of what we've all been told. That way if, God forbid, all this shit does happen, and if it does it will have nothing to do with what anyone says about it, then at least they'll not be taken utterly by surprise, but what people choose to believe is their business, and I respect their beliefs. [ ]If people still want to call me crazy that's fine. Twenty years or so ago I might have called me crazy too, but not any more. In my opinion the Bible is a roadmap for what's going on right now. It specifically mentions earthquakes, volcanoes and all the stuff that's happening with the Sun, Moon and stars, not to mention people becoming "lovers of self" and taking evil for good and vice-versa. It's all there, and you can read it for yourself, if you even own a Bible. It all leads up to the emergence of the Antichrist. Reed 'em and weep. Truth is stranger than fiction. No truer words were ever spoken. [ ]Like I just said, one day you may have to choose whom you'll serve, if you haven't already made that choice. I know whom I serve- the living God. Yeshua. Jesus Christ. The Devil knows that. We're all targets, but most people don't know that that's happening. In my opinion Satan is letting me know I'm in the crosshairs. It's a great honor. In the end the Devil can do whatever he wants to us, but he can't take out souls, and he knows that. And again, the truth is the truth, no matter what anyone's opinions or beliefs are. The truth stands alone. It doesn't care what you or I think about it. We'll see. I hope I'm dead-wrong and I WISH I were but I don't think I am. [ ]If this is real then the Antichrist should be making an appearance fairly soon. He'll perform many miracles, and many will be deceived into thinking HE's Jesus. Please don't fall for it. The REAL Christ won't appear until after the AC. Like my buddy Tut said, all you need to know, to not to be fooled, is that the first guy ain't the guy. Very well-said. Again, choose wisely, my friend. Have a blessed day.

Quote of the Day

"Narcissists are the kind of people who take up all the air in a room." - Dr. Stephanie Kriesberg